Damn these cars are fast! The development of them is going to make it insanely fast!!!

Re: 2017 Formula One World Championship

Posted: 11 Mar 2017, 08:41

by WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot

Yeah, Vettel was sandbagging and Räikkönen said that he could have easily gone faster as well! It's all looking great for Ferrari in terms of speed, giving us hope that we'll see a great battle between them and Mercedes this season. Red Bull will be stirring the soup as well, although I'm not yet convinced that they are quite up there with those other two. Massa has shown that making a comeback isn't the only thing he's fast at, and we can except a chipper season from Williams. It seems like they might be ahead of Force India at this point, but their campaign will rest mostly on Massa's shoulders while the Indian team has a more balanced line-up, so it's going to be tight there.

I also trust that STR will spring a few surprises - it may be that I'm mesmerized by their livery, but I've got a feeling that they've managed to make some significant progress from previous seasons.

Re: 2017 Formula One World Championship

Posted: 11 Mar 2017, 09:28

by MadRacer38

WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot wrote:Yeah, Vettel was sandbagging and Räikkönen said that he could have easily gone faster as well! It's all looking great for Ferrari in terms of speed, giving us hope that we'll see a great battle between them and Mercedes this season. Red Bull will be stirring the soup as well, although I'm not yet convinced that they are quite up there with those other two. Massa has shown that making a comeback isn't the only thing he's fast at, and we can except a chipper season from Williams. It seems like they might be ahead of Force India at this point, but their campaign will rest mostly on Massa's shoulders while the Indian team has a more balanced line-up, so it's going to be tight there.

I also trust that STR will spring a few surprises - it may be that I'm mesmerized by their livery, but I've got a feeling that they've managed to make some significant progress from previous seasons.

Renault have made a decent step forward as well, or at least it looks that way. Hulk should be good for them. As for Haas, they seem to be treading water...

Only 2 weeks until Melbourne! I have my tickets

Re: 2017 Formula One World Championship

Posted: 24 Mar 2017, 15:31

by WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot

Let's look at some helmets while waiting for the quali:

Sergio Perez

Carlos Sainz

Daniel Ricciardo

Nico Hülkenberg

Daniil Kvyat

Felipe Massa

Fernando Alonso

Jolyon Palmer

Kevin Magnussen

Kimi Räikkönen

Lance Stroll

Lewis Hamilton

Marcus Ericsson

Max Verstappen

Pascal Wehrlein

Romain Grosjean

Sebastian Vettel

Stoffel Vandoorne

Valtteri Bottas

Esteban Ocon

Re: 2017 Formula One World Championship

Posted: 24 Mar 2017, 19:06

by Quiksilver

Hulkenberg his helmet is the coolest ..at least for me

Re: 2017 Formula One World Championship

Posted: 25 Mar 2017, 08:18

by MadRacer38

A big day for F1 today as the 2017 spec challengers were unleashed for the first time. Definitely a large step forwards although the cars didn't deliver the lap times expected.

In the break down, it was clear that aerodynamic grip had increased massively whereas the mechanical grip hadn't improved near as much as originally thought.

In any case, these are the faster cars at Albert Park and tomorrow's race will be highly anticipated as the beginning of a new era in Formula One!

Hamilton never looked in doubt as he had the 3tenths buffer to his new team mate Bottas. Vettel showed the Ferrari has stepped forward and split the Mercs, meaning the first to rows will be split between Silver and Red. Kimi didn't do enough but also made a mistake on the first run.

As for the rest, it was all a bit scattered as teams and drivers try to comes to grips with the new cars. Notable moments include Ricciardo's crash in Q3, Grosjean/Hulkenburg/Massa largely out-performing their team mates and Giovanazzi very nearly making his vastly more experienced and prepared team mate, look very average.

Fingers crossed for an exciting GP tomorrow!

Re: 2017 Formula One World Championship

Posted: 25 Mar 2017, 12:38

by WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot

Hamilton crushed the lap record - I'm not sure how much better the laptimes were expected to get!

It does look like we're in for an interesting race. Ferrari is close to Mercedes, that much is for sure, and I expect them to improve in the race. The polesitter is strong, but I'm not counting out Vettel or Bottas. Vettel looks like he's been reborn, while Bottas is perhaps closer to his teammate than expected, and he did a bit of a lock-up on his hot lap that cost him some time. Räikkönen seemed to struggle throughout the quali, and I think he used more tyres than was planned. That doesn't bode well for him for the race, and it could be that we'll see him fighting Max Verstappen instead.

I'll keep a close eye on Haas; sixth in quali is stunning stuff from the American team.

And now MadRacer38 and his weather forecast for tomorrow - could you please poke your head out of the window and tell us what it's like?

Re: 2017 Formula One World Championship

Posted: 25 Mar 2017, 13:31

by MadRacer38

WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot wrote:Hamilton crushed the lap record - I'm not sure how much better the laptimes were expected to get!

It does look like we're in for an interesting race. Ferrari is close to Mercedes, that much is for sure, and I expect them to improve in the race. The polesitter is strong, but I'm not counting out Vettel or Bottas. Vettel looks like he's been reborn, while Bottas is perhaps closer to his teammate than expected, and he did a bit of a lock-up on his hot lap that cost him some time. Räikkönen seemed to struggle throughout the quali, and I think he used more tyres than was planned. That doesn't bode well for him for the race, and it could be that we'll see him fighting Max Verstappen instead.

I'll keep a close eye on Haas; sixth in quali is stunning stuff from the American team.

And now MadRacer38 and his weather forecast for tomorrow - could you please poke your head out of the window and tell us what it's like?

It was only 1.7sec quicker then last year's pole lap. A big jump, yes, but I was hoping for around a 3sec jump over last season (which is around 5 from '15 as promised iirc although Aus15 was damp).

And this afternoon (since it's just ticked over midnight) will be warm with the usual clouds. Nice day, maybe a sprinkle of rain (par for the course in Melbourne) but nothing that would affect the race unless a late thunderstorm rolled in.

Re: 2017 Formula One World Championship

Posted: 09 Apr 2017, 08:25

by MadRacer38

Standing have been updated post-Chinese GP. All square at the top of the drivers with Red Bull close, but not quite on the Merc/Ferrari pace.

Williams still not great when its a low-grip surface (ie; wet or like it was today) which means Toro Rosso are best of the rest at the moment...Points for Haas is good. McLaren, Renault, and Sauber yet to score even though Hulk made Q3.

Lastly, all the good work Giovanzzi did in Melbourne was promptly undone by crashing in the same spot in both quali and the race in China. Pascal is meant to be back next week in Bahrain.